One of the top five screwball comedies of the '30s, this helped to cement a genre that waxed golden until the end of WWII. Director Leo McCarey won an Oscar for Best Director for this 1937 romantic comedy--one of the most successful films of his career. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are a squabbling couple who separate because of supposed infidelities on both sides. They part but cannot really keep away from each other. Grant finds himself hooked up with a socialite, Dunne becomes engaged to a millionaire hick played by the hapless Ralph Bellamy (as if he ever stood a chance as the "other" man!). When not dating others or baiting one another in a verbal war, Grant and Dunne wage a custody battle over their pathetic pooch. Gags, double entendre, witty remarks, snide comments, and fast-paced dialogue helped this to garner six Academy Award nominations. The Awful Truth was awfully good to Dunne and Grant, as both were breaking out of much more serious molds and this secured their positions. --Rochelle O'Gorman
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In one of the supreme screwball comedies, young husband and wife Jerry and Lucy (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, respectively), suspicious that the other is having an affair, start divorce proceedings and see each other only when Jerry visits their dog, who is held in joint custody. As Lucy shows signs of falling for her oil-tycoon neighbor, Jerry goes to outrageous lengths to break them up. And Jerry’s own whirlwind courtship of a social darling hits snags as Lucy pretends to be his inebriated showgirl sister during Jerry’s meeting with his girlfriend’s parents. Stuck in an isolated cabin the eve their divorce becomes final, Lucy and Jerry discover the awful truth that they still love each other. The wonderful Leo McCarey directed THE AWFUL TRUTH, which was based on the 1922 play by Arthur Richman.
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5 Academy Award Nominations including Best Picture
Leo McCarey won a 1937 Best Director Oscar and star Irene Dunne was nominated (one of her five Best Actress nominations) for The Awful Truth, one of the most captivating screwball comedies ever made.
A comic battlefield presided over by two superbly matched sparring partners, The Awful Truth also stars Cary Grant as the other half of a couple facing divorce-and fighting over custody of their beloved dog, Mr. Smith. Somewhere before the final divorce decree, however, Jerry decides he wants Lucy back, only to learn that she's marrying a country bumpkin (hilariously played by Ralph Bellamy). Jerry counters with an engagement to the aristocratic Molly Lamont, sparking a sexy, sophisticated battle of wits that ranks among the wackiest comedies in screen history.
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